iraqi army takes over all of baghdad for first time

Iraqi Army enters Muqtada Sadr's Baghdad Bastion 20 May 2008 12:38:10 GMT Reuters By Aseel Kami and Adrian Croft BAGHDAD, May 20 (Reuters) - Iraq sent its army deep into Baghdad's Sadr City, power base of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, on Tuesday to stamp government authority on areas previously outside its control. Soldiers moved into the sprawling slum in the early hours, securing most of the suburb in an operation that an army spokesman said had been coordinated with Sadr's movement to avoid bloodshed. The operation, on the second anniversary of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki being sworn in, marked the first time since the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003 that the Iraqi army had pushed so deeply into the area. "The security forces have taken control of security for the city completely, God willing," Major-General Qassim Moussawi, a spokesman for the security forces in Baghdad, told a news briefing on "Operation Peace". The operation marks the latest step by the government to extend control over areas of Iraq that were under the sway of Shi'ite militias or Sunni Arab insurgents. Iraqi soldiers, who previously controlled only the outer perimeter of Sadr City, met no opposition during their advance into the suburb, home to 2 million people. But Moussawi said soldiers had cleared more than 100 home-made roadside bombs before going in. U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover said no American troops were involved in the operation which he said was Iraqi-planned and -executed. Sadr City is the main stronghold of Sadr's Mehdi Army, a militia estimated to number tens of thousands that the U.S. military once called the greatest threat to peace in Iraq. The Mehdi Army staged two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004. It has been battling Iraqi and U.S. forces in Sadr City since late March, when a government offensive against its operations in the oil port of Basra touched off a wave of retaliatory attacks in Baghdad and other cities. "I saw more than 40 Iraqi Humvees (army vehicles) in the major street in my district," said 53-year-old Hamza Hashim. Iraqi soldiers took over a disused police station while others moved into high buildings and deployed snipers, he said. Shops and schools in the area were closed, residents said. Moussawi said the army had secured positions in Sadr City and set up checkpoints. It had not yet begun to search for wanted people, he said. Apart from setting up permanent checkpoints, the operation is also aimed at disarming insurgents and providing basic services to residents, he said. Iraq's ruling Shi'ite alliance and Sadr's opposition movement in parliament reached an agreement this month to end the fighting in Sadr City, in which hundreds have died. The agreement called on gunmen loyal to Sadr to lay down their arms. Moussawi said the army entered the city "in coordination with the brothers in the Sadr movement to save bloodshed". Maliki personally oversaw an offensive against Shi'ite militias in Basra, which is now under Iraqi army control, and earlier this month he flew to Mosul in the north when his forces launched a push against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.